Camera based headlight control system

ABSTRACT

A lighting system for a vehicle is disclosed. The lighting system comprises an imager configured to capture image data in a plurality of image frames in a rearward field of view. The system further comprises at least one headlamp configured to output an emission of light at a plurality of elevations and a controller. The controller is in communication with the imager and the headlamp. The controller is operable to process the image data to identify features in a first frame and a second frame. The controller is further operable to identify a movement of the features from the first frame to the second frame and adjust the elevation of the output emission in response to the movement.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/486,973, filed on Apr. 13, 2017, entitled“CAMERA BASED HEADLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM,” which claims priority to andthe benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/322,409, filed on Apr. 14, 2016, entitled “REARCAMERA BASED HEADLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM,” the entire disclosure of whichis hereby incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to a lighting system for avehicle and more particularly to a headlight system adjusted based on afield of view relative the vehicle.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a lighting system fora vehicle is disclosed. The lighting system comprises an imagerconfigured to capture image data in a plurality of image frames in arearward field of view. The system further comprises at least oneheadlamp configured to output an emission of light at a plurality ofelevations and a controller. The controller is in communication with theimager and the headlamp. The controller is operable to process the imagedata to identify features in a first frame and a second frame. Thecontroller is further operable to identify a movement of the featuresfrom the first frame to the second frame and adjust the elevation of theoutput emission in response to the movement.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, a lighting system for avehicle is disclosed. The system comprises an imager configured tocapture image data in a plurality of image frames in a field of viewrearward relative to the vehicle and at least one headlamp configured tooutput an emission of light at a plurality of elevations. A controlleris in communication with the imager and the headlamp. The controller isconfigured to process the image data identifying at least one feature ina first frame and a second frame of the plurality of image frames andidentify a movement of the feature from the first frame to the secondframe. The controller is further configured to adjust the elevation ofthe output emission in response to the movement.

According to yet another aspect of the disclosure, a lighting system fora vehicle is disclosed. The system comprises an imager configured tocapture image data in a plurality of image frames in a field of viewrearward relative to the vehicle. The system further comprises a firstheadlamp configured to emit a first emission and a second headlampconfigured to emit a second emission. Each headlamp is configured toemit light at a plurality of elevations. A controller is incommunication with the imager and the headlamp. The controller isoperable to process the image data to identify at least one feature in afirst frame and a second frame of the plurality of image frames andidentify a feature movement based on a pixel shift of the at least onefeature from the first frame to the second frame. The controller isconfigured to identify vehicle movement as a rotational movement basedon the pixel shift in the image data and adjust a first elevation of thefirst emission and a second elevation of the second emissionindependently in response to rotational movement.

These and other features, advantages, and objects of the presentdisclosure will be further understood and appreciated by those skilledin the art by reference to the following specification, claims, andappended drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure will become more fully understood from thedetailed description and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a vehicle demonstrating a vehicle lightingsystem;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of image data corresponding to a scene captured byan rearview imager of a lighting system;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a vehicle demonstrating a vehicle lightingsystem;

FIG. 4 is a process diagram demonstrating a method of adjusting a levelof the headlights based on the image data; and

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the headlight system in accordance with thedisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present illustrated embodiments reside primarily in combinations ofmethod steps and apparatus components related to an image sensor systemand method thereof. Accordingly, the apparatus components and methodsteps have been represented, where appropriate, by conventional symbolsin the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinentto understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not toobscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent tothose of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the descriptionherein. Further, like numerals in the description and drawings representlike elements.

In this document, relational terms, such as first and second, top andbottom, and the like, are used solely to distinguish one entity oraction from another entity or action, without necessarily requiring orimplying any actual such relationship or order between such entities oractions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” or any other variationthereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that aprocess, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elementsdoes not include only those elements but may include other elements notexpressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, orapparatus.

Referring to FIG. 1 a vehicle 10 is shown equipped with a lightingsystem 12. In an exemplary embodiment, the lighting system 12 maycorrespond to a headlight system 14 configured to illuminate a forwardregion 16 relative the vehicle. The headlight system 14 may comprise atleast one headlamp 18 configured to selectively emit light from aplurality of lighting portions 20. The lighting portions 20 maycorrespond to a plurality of light emitting sources 22. In someembodiments, the plurality of light emitting sources may correspond to amatrix 24 of light emitting sources as demonstrated in Detail A. In thisconfiguration, the headlight system 14 may be configured to control avertical level 26 or elevational level of an emission 28 of lightprojected from the at least one headlamp 18.

In some embodiments, the lighting system 12 may comprise a controllerconfigured to control the vertical level 26 of the emission 28 based onimage data captured by an imager 30. The imager 30 may correspond to arearward directed image sensor. Though discussed in reference to arearward directed image sensor, the imager 30 may be directed in avariety of directions in reference to a forward operating direction ofthe vehicle 10. For example, the imager may be directed forward andsubstantially aligned with the forward operating direction of thevehicle 10. In some embodiments, the imager 30 may form a component of arearview imaging system 32 configured to display image data on arearview display 34. As such, the imager 30 may form a component of arearview imaging system 32 and may share various processing componentsand/or communication interfaces with the lighting system 12.

The controller of the lighting system 12 may be configured to receivethe image data captured by the imager 30 to detect an ego motion of thevehicle 10. The image data may correspond to a field of view 36 capturedby the imager 30. In an exemplary embodiment, the imager 30 may beconfigured to capture image data in a field of view demonstrating ascene 38 rearward of the vehicle 10. Accordingly, the controller may beconfigured to detect a vertical movement 40 of the vehicle 10 relativeto a roadway surface 41 based on the image data of the scene 38. Thecontroller may then utilize the vertical movement 40 detected from theimage data to control the vertical level 26 of the at least one headlamp18. Further details regarding the controller of the lighting system arediscussed in reference to FIG. 4.

As demonstrated in Detail A, the lighting portions 20 are shown as aplurality of rows 42 of the light emitting sources 22 that form thematrix 24. Each of the lighting portions 20 may correspond to one ormore of the rows 42 of the light emitting sources 22. As discussedherein, the controller may control the vertical level 26 of the at leastone headlamp 18 by selectively activating each of the lighting portions20 to output the emission 28 at a plurality of elevations 44. Forexample, the controller may selectively activate each of the lightingportions 20 to adjust the elevation 44 among a first vertical level 46,a second vertical level 48, and a third vertical level 50. In this way,the controller may rapidly control the elevation 44 of the emission 28in response to the vertical movement 40 of the vehicle 10. Thoughdiscussed as three vertical levels 46, 48, and 50, the levels of thevertical zones may vary based on the characteristics of a wide range oflighting systems without departing from the spirit of the disclosure.

Referring now to FIG. 2 the field of view 36 of the image data of thescene 38 captured by the imager 30 is shown. Based on the image data,the controller may detect various reference features 60 that may becompared over time to detect the vertical movement 40 of the vehicle 10.The reference features 60 may correspond to edges or groups of edges ofvarious objects 62 that may be detected by one or more image processingalgorithms. Additionally the controller may be operable to detect avariety of features that may commonly be identifiable in the scene 38.For example, the controller may detect at least one of a vanishing point64 of a road 66, a horizon 68, and a variety of features that may beidentified in the image data. Based on the locations of the objects 62and/or features detected in the image data, the controller may determinethe vertical movement 40 of the vehicle 10 and control the verticallevels 46, 48, and 50 of the at least one headlamp 18 to limit anapparent movement or variation in the elevation 44 of the emission 28.The apparent movement may correspond to a rapid bounce, jerk, or otherrapid elevational variation in the position or orientation of thevehicle 10.

As shown in FIG. 2, the objects may correspond to various types ofobjects that may commonly be identified proximate roadways. For example,the objects 62 may correspond to a natural feature 62 a (e.g. a tree,shrub, vegetation, etc.), a trailing vehicle 62 b, a sign 62 c, autility pole 62 d, a building 62 e, a landscape feature 62 f, etc.Though specific objects 62 and/or features are discussed that may beutilized as reference features 60 to identify the vertical motion 40 ofthe vehicle 10, various objects that may be located proximate a motorwaymay be similarly identified. Accordingly, the disclosure provides for aflexible solution to provide for the identification of one or moreobjects 62 and/or features to assist in identifying the verticalmovement 40 of the vehicle 10.

In some embodiments, one or more of the objects may correspond toobjects that emit light and are visible during nighttime or other lowlighting conditions. For example, one or more of the objects maycorrespond to light sources 65 detected in the image data. As shown, thelight sources 65 may correspond to a headlight 65 a or taillight of avehicle (e.g. the vehicle 62 b) captured in the field of view 36.Additionally, the light source may correspond to one or more buildinglights 65 b, street lights 65 c, utility lights or a variety of lightsources that may be detected proximate the road 66. In this way, thecontroller of the lighting system 12 may be configured to receive theimage data captured by the imager 30 to detect an ego motion of thevehicle 10.

For example, the controller may identify a vertical shift 70 of thevanishing point 64 in the image data among two or more image frames ofthe image data to identify the vertical movement 40 of the vehicle 10.Similarly, the controller may detect the vertical shift 70 of thehorizon 68 to identify the vertical movement 40. The vertical movement40 of the vehicle 10 may be identified as a pixel shift of one or moreedges of the references features 60 and/or objects 62 or featuresdetected in the image data at a calibrated distance. The calibrateddistance may be based on a known or previously calibrated focal lengthof the imager 30. In this configuration, the controller may process theimage data to identify a magnitude of the vertical movement 40 or othermovement of the vehicle 10 to accurately control the elevation 44 of theemission 28.

In operation, the controller may identify a pixel shift of the at leastone feature 60 and/or objects 62 in the image data over a plurality ofimage frames. Based on the pixel shift, the controller may calculate amagnitude of a movement of the vehicle 10. The controller may identifythe magnitude of the movement of the vehicle 10 by comparing a distanceof the pixel shift in the field of view 36 of the imager 30 to acalibrated distance of the focal length of the imager 30. Based on thecomparison, the controller may identify the magnitude of the movement ofthe vehicle 10 and adjust the elevation 44 or level of the at least oneheadlamp 18 to compensate for the movement of the vehicle 10 and preventa corresponding movement of the emission 28.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3 in some embodiments, the emission 28 maycorrespond to a first emission 28 a of a first headlamp 18 a and asecond emission 28 b of a second headlamp 18 b. The first headlamp 18 amay correspond to a driver-side headlamp and the second headlamp 18 bmay correspond to a passenger-side headlamp. In such a configuration,the controller may be configured to control a first elevation 44 a ofthe first headlamp 18 a independent of a second elevation 44 b of thesecond headlamp 18 b based on the image data. For example, thecontroller may identify a rotational shift 72 based on a rotationalmotion (e.g. an angular change in position) of the horizon 68 and/or arotation of one or more edges or objects identified in a plurality offrames of the image data. Accordingly, the controller may be configuredto activate the first headlamp 18 a to emit the first emission 28 a at aplurality of vertical levels 46 a, 48 a, and 50 a independent of thecontrol of the second headlamp 18 b. Additionally, the controller may beconfigured to activate the second headlamp 18 b to emit the secondemission 28 b at a plurality of vertical levels 46 b, 48 b, and 50 bindependent of the control of the first headlamp 18 a.

For example, in response to detecting a clockwise shift in the pluralityof objects and/or the horizon 68, the controller may adjust the firstelevation 44 a of the first headlamp 18 a upward and the secondelevation 44 b of the second headlamp 18 b downward. Similarly inresponse to a counterclockwise shift, the controller may adjust thefirst elevation 44 a of the first headlamp 18 a downward and the secondelevation 44 b of the second headlamp 18 b upward. More specifically, inresponse to an upward shift on the driver-side identified in the imagedata, the controller may adjust the first elevation 44 a of the firstheadlamp 18 a downward. That is, in order to compensate for the upwardshift in the image data, the controller may lower the first elevation 44a to avoid blinding oncoming traffic. In response to a downward shift onthe passenger-side identified in the image data, the controller mayadjust the second elevation 44 b of the second headlamp 18 b upward. Inorder to compensate for the downward shift in the image data, thecontroller may lower the second elevation 44 b to avoid losing theeffective projection distance of the second emission 28 b.

As discussed herein, a vertical shift 70, horizontal shift 71, and/orrotational shift 72 of the one or more objects 62 or features may beidentified in the image data by comparing a first position of an edge orobject in a first image to a second position of the edge or object in asecond image frame. The subsequent or second image frame may correspondto an image frame captured by the imager 30 after a temporal period haspassed from the capture of the first image frame. In this configuration,the response time of the controller to detect the movement of the one ormore objects 62 or features may be at least partially dependent on aframe rate of the imager 30 and a processing speed of the controller.

In some embodiments, the lighting system 12 may be configured to reducethe effects of one or more delays in a response time between identifyingthe vertical movement 40 of the vehicle 10 and adjusting the verticallevel 26 of the at least one headlamp 18. Some potential sources ofdelay may be related to one or more steps of image acquisition by theimager 30 or image processing by the controller. Additionally, a delaymay be caused by messaging or communications from the imager 30 to thecontroller (e.g. communication via a vehicle bus or can-bus), etc.Accordingly, the lighting system may utilize one or more predictionmethods to identify the vertical movement based on the vertical shift 70or other movement identified in the image data.

A prediction method that may be utilized by the controller maycorrespond to the application of one or more predictive filters. Thepredictive filters may be applied to predict a future elevation for theemission 28 for an elevation adjustment at a future time. The futureelevation may be predicted based on a plurality of previously identifiedinter-frame movements of objects 62 identified in the image data. Basedon the inter-frame movements, the future elevation of the emission 28can be predicted based on one or more previously identified motionvectors for the objects 62 identified in the image data. In this way,the controller may estimate the future elevation of the emission suchthat the system 12 can adjust the elevation 44 based on an anticipatedor future vertical movement 40 of the vehicle 10. Accordingly, thesystem may be configured to adjust a current elevation of the outputemission 28 to a future, anticipated elevation in response to ananticipated vertical movement of the vehicle 10.

For example, an adaptive linear prediction filter may be applied to theresults of a headlight aim adjustment step to adjust the elevation ofthe emissions from the headlamps 18 a and 18 b. In this way, the system12 may be operable to predict the future elevation of the outputemissions 28 a and 28 b to prevent the appearance of a delay in a systemresponse of the lighting system 12. The delay may be a response to timerequired by the system 12 to capture the image data, process the imagedata, or a response time of the at least one headlamp 18 to control theelevation of the emission 28. The headlight aim adjustment step isfurther discussed in reference to FIG. 4 as step 100. As discussedherein, the controller may predict the output for future adjustments ofthe headlamps 18 a and 18 b based on an amount of fixed static delay. Assuch, the lighting system 12 may reduce errors related to one or moredelays as discussed herein.

The controller may be configured to utilize various algorithms andmethods to identify features in the image data. For example, thecontroller may be configured to utilize an adaptive edge detectionprocess to identify the lanes and portions of the road 66 in order toidentify the vanishing point 64 or horizon 68. Additionally, thecontroller may be configured to utilize a boundary contrast algorithm todetect the horizon 68 by detecting a gradient threshold of a series ofpixel values of the image data. Though particular image processingmethods are discussed herein, the methods are introduced for explanationand not limitation. As such, the disclosure shall not be limited to suchexemplary embodiments unless expressly stated otherwise.

The adaptive edge detection process may utilize an edge detection maskto approximate a gradient at pixel locations in the image data. If apixel meets predetermined criteria for an intensity value and a gradientthreshold value, the controller may identify the pixels as a candidatelane line pixels. As the image data corresponding to a current framecaptured by the imager 30 is processed, the candidate lane line pixelsare utilized to generate a best-fit polynomial to model a lane line ofthe road 66. In some embodiments, the best-fit polynomial may correspondto a third order polynomial. In this way, the candidate lane line pixelsmay be utilized to generate a left lane line model 66 a and a right laneline model 66 b, which may correspond to sides of the road 66. The leftlane line model 66 a and the right lane line model 66 b model may beused to determine the intersection point of the sides of the road 66,which may correspond to the vanishing point 64 in the image data.

The controller may utilize the horizon boundary contrast algorithm todetect groups of pixels in the image data in order to identify thehorizon 68. Each of the groups of pixels may correspond to portions orpatches of contiguous pixels in the image data that contain the boundarybetween a sky portion 82 and a ground portion 84 of image data. Thehorizon boundary contrast algorithm may analyze the contrast between thesky portion 82 and the ground portion to determine a location of thehorizon 68. The contrast may be analyzed by calculating a pixelintensity vertically in the image data to determine a vertical gradient.The vertical gradient captures the difference in intensity or pixelvalues of the pixels corresponding to the sky portion 82 and thosecorresponding to the ground portion 84. By identifying the boundary ofthe sky portion 82 and the ground portion 84, the controller may beoperable to identify the horizon 68 in the image data.

In some embodiments, an object flow process may be utilized to identifythe vertical shift 70, horizontal shift 71, and/or rotational shift 72.The object flow detection method may be processed by the controller byidentifying an expected motion of the objects 62 based on a velocity ofthe vehicle and/or a trend in the motion of the objects 62. For example,the objects 62 in a sequence of image frames captured by the imager 30may trend toward a vanishing point of the field of view 36. Accordingly,a variation in the optical flow or object flow contrary to the trendbased on the velocity of the vehicle may be identified by the controllerto adjust the elevation of the emission 28.

Systems demonstrating various detection techniques that may beimplemented in the lighting system 12 are further discussed in detail inU.S. Pat. No. 9,767,695 entitled “STAND ALONE BLIND SPOT DETECTIONSYSTEM,” filed on Jul. 11, 2013, by Steven G. Hoek et al.; U.S. Pat. No.8,924,078, entitled “IMAGE ACQUISITION AND PROCESSING SYSTEM FOR VEHICLEEQUIPMENT CONTROL,” filed on Oct. 17, 2011, by Oliver M. Jeromin et al.;U.S. Pat. No. 8,577,169, entitled “DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING AND SYSTEMSINCORPORATING THE SAME,” filed on Feb. 1, 2010, by Jeremy C. Andrus etal.; U.S. Pat. No. 8,065,053 B2, entitled “IMAGE ACQUISITION ANDPROCESSING SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLE EQUIPMENT CONTROL,” filed on Jan. 31,2011, by Joseph S. Stam et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 8,543,254 B1, entitled“VEHICULAR IMAGING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING ROADWAY WIDTH,”filed Mar. 28, 2012, by Jeremy A. Schut et al., which are incorporatedby reference herein in their entirety.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a process diagram 88 is shown demonstrating amethod to adjust the one or more elevations 44 of the emission 28 fromthe one more headlamps discussed 18 herein. The method may begin bycapturing the image data via the imager 30 and communicating the imagedata to the controller 90. At least one processor of the controller 90may be configured to complete one or more image processing steps 92 onthe image data to determine the vanishing point 64, the horizon 68, orany other features 60 or objects 62 detected that may be identified inthe image data. The features 60 or objects 62 identified in the imagedata may be utilized by the processor to identify at least one of thehorizontal shift 71, the vertical shift 70, and the rotational shift 72image data.

The one or more image processing steps 92 may include a horizondetection step 94, an object detection step 96 and a vanishing pointdetection step 98. Based on the features identified by the processor inthe image processing steps 92, the processor may be operable to generateone of more offsets that may be applied in a headlight aim adjustmentstep 100 to adjust the elevation of the emissions 28 from the headlamps18 a and 18 b. The one or more processors may comprise one or moremodules configured to identify shifts in the features and/or objects 62detected in the image data to adjust the elevation 44 of the emissions28 and correct or compensate for a rapid or jerking vertical movement 40or other similar rapid movement of the vehicle 10.

The horizon detection step 94 may be configured to detect the horizon 68in a plurality of image frames of the image data. Based on a change inthe vertical position and/or an angle of the horizon 68, the controllermay be operable to determine the vertical offset 70 and/or therotational offset 72. Similarly, the object detection step 96 may beconfigured to identify the movement of one or more objects 62 and/orcorresponding edges in a plurality of image frames of the image data todetermine the vertical offset 70 and/or the rotational offset 72.Additionally, the controller 90 may utilize the vanishing pointdetection step 98 to determine at least the vertical offset 70. In thisway, the controller 90 may identify a movement of the features and/orobjects in the image data to generate a headlamp control signal 102 tocontrol one or more elevations 44 of the emission 28.

In some embodiments, the controller 90 may further be configured toapply one or more signal conditioning steps to the headlight aimadjustment step 100. For example, in some cases a slow movement of oneor more objects in the image data (e.g. the horizon 68) over a number offrames may correspond to gradual changes in the scene 38 over time. Suchchanges may not correspond to vertical movement 40 of the vehicle 10related to bumps in the roadway surface 41 or other factors that mayaffect the vertical level 26 of the at least one headlamp 18 asdiscussed herein. Accordingly, the controller 90 may apply one or morefilters to condition the data from the imager 30, such as a high passfilter. At least one example of a high pass filter may include a filterconfigured to attenuate frequencies of motion data in the image dataranging from a constant or zero frequency to a level substantially belowa resonance frequency of the a suspension of the vehicle 10. In thisway, the controller 90 attenuate data related to gradual changes in thescene 38.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a block diagram of the lighting system 12 isshown. The imager 30 is shown in communication with the controller 90. Apixel array of the imager 30 may correspond to a CMOS image sensor, forexample a CMOS active-pixel sensor (APS) or a charge coupled device(CCD). Each of the pixels of the pixel array may correspond to aphoto-sensor, an array of photo-sensors, or any grouping of sensorsconfigured to capture light. The controller 90 may comprise a processor112 operable to process the image data as supplied in analog or digitalform in the imager 30. For example, the controller 90 may be implementedas a plurality of processors, a multicore processor, or any combinationof processors, circuits, and peripheral processing devices. Theprocessor 112 may comprise a plurality of modules configured to processthe image data.

The controller 90 may further comprise a memory 114. The memory 114 maycorrespond to various forms of memory, for example, random access memory(RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), and other forms ofmemory configured to store information. The memory 114 may be configuredto store the image data for processing. Processing the image data maycomprise various edge detection and/or object detection steps asdiscussed herein. The memory may be configured to store variousalgorithms, processing instructions, method steps, etc. to identify thevertical movement 40 and adjust the one or more elevations 44 of theemission 28.

The controller 90 may be in communication with a plurality of inputs forexample, a speed input 116 and a vehicle bus 118. The speed input 116may provide a signal communicating a speed of the vehicle 10 via aspeedometer or any device operable to measure and communicate datacorresponding to the speed of a vehicle 10. The vehicle bus 118 may beimplemented using any suitable communication bus, such as a ControllerArea Network (CAN) bus. The vehicle bus 118 may also be configured toprovide a variety of additional information to the controller 90.

Based on the image data and the various processing steps discussedherein, the controller 90 may be configured to control the elevation 44of the at least one headlamp 18 in response to the vertical movement 40of the vehicle 10. In some embodiments, the controller 90 may beconfigured to adjust the elevation 44 of the emission 28 among aplurality of levels. For example, the controller 90 may be configured toactivate the first headlamp 18 a to emit the first emission 28 a at aplurality of vertical levels 46 a, 48 a, and 50 a independent of thecontrol of the second headlamp 18 b. Additionally, the controller 90 maybe configured to activate the second headlamp 18 b to emit the secondemission 28 b at a plurality of vertical levels 46 b, 48 b, and 50 bindependent of the control of the first headlamp 18 a.

It will be appreciated that embodiments of the disclosure describedherein may be comprised of one or more conventional processors andunique stored program instructions that control one or more processorsto implement, in conjunction with certain non-processor circuits, some,most, or all of the functions of an image sensor system and methodthereof, as described herein. The non-processor circuits may include,but are not limited to signal drivers, clock circuits, power sourcecircuits, and/or user input devices. Alternatively, some or allfunctions could be implemented by a state machine that has no storedprogram instructions, or in one or more application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), in which each function or some combinations of thefunctions are implemented as custom logic. Of course, a combination ofthe two approaches could be used. Thus, the methods and means for thesefunctions have been described herein. Further, it is expected that oneof ordinary skill, notwithstanding possibly significant effort and manydesign choices motivated by, for example, available time, currenttechnology, and economic considerations, when guided by the concepts andprinciples disclosed herein will be readily capable of generating suchsoftware instructions and programs and ICs with minimal experimentation.

It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the abovedescribed components may be combined in additional or alternative waysnot explicitly described herein. Modifications of the variousimplementations of the disclosure will occur to those skilled in the artand to those who apply the teachings of the disclosure. Therefore, it isunderstood that the embodiments shown in the drawings and describedabove are merely for illustrative purposes and not intended to limit thescope of the disclosure, which is defined by the following claims asinterpreted according to the principles of patent law, including thedoctrine of equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for controlling a lighting systemfor a vehicle comprising: an imager configured to capture image data ina plurality of image frames in a field of view proximate to the vehicle;and a controller in communication with the imager and at least oneheadlamp configured to output at least one emission of light at aplurality of elevations, wherein the controller is operable to: processthe image data identifying at least one feature in a first frame and asecond frame of the plurality of image frames; identify a featuremovement based on a pixel shift of the at least one feature from thefirst frame to the second frame in the field of view of the imager;calculate a magnitude of a vehicle movement based on a measurement ofthe feature movement in the field of view; and output a signalconfigured to adjust the elevation of the output emission in response tothe vehicle movement.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein themagnitude of the vehicle movement is calculated based on a comparison ofthe pixel shift to a focal length of the imager.
 3. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the magnitude of the vehicle movement iscalculated based on a comparison of the pixel shift to a calibratedfocal distance in the field of view of the imager.
 4. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the at least one headlamp corresponds to afirst headlamp configured to output a first emission and a secondheadlamp configured to output a second emission.
 5. The apparatusaccording to claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to output thesignal to adjust the elevation of a first output emission of the firstheadlamp independently from a second output emission of the secondheadlamp in response to the vehicle movement.
 6. The apparatus accordingto claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to identify vehiclemovement as a rotational movement relative to a forward direction of thevehicle based on the pixel shift in the image data.
 7. The apparatusaccording to claim 6, wherein the controller is configured to output thesignal to adjust the elevation of the first emission in a firstdirection and the elevation of the second output emission in a seconddirection in response to rotational vehicle movement.
 8. The apparatusaccording to claim 6, wherein the first direction is upward in elevationand the second direction is downward in elevation.
 9. The apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to identifythe pixel shift based on a change in contrast between a sky portion anda ground portion indicating a horizon.
 10. The apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein controller is configured to identify the pixel shiftbased on a change in the motion of the at least one feature from amotion trend identified in the plurality of image frames.
 11. Theapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured tofilter the feature movement to remove low-frequency contentcorresponding to gradual changes in an operating direction of thevehicle.
 12. An apparatus for controlling a lighting system for avehicle comprising: an imager configured to capture image data in aplurality of image frames in a field of view; and a controller incommunication with the imager and at least one headlamp configured tooutput an emission of light at a plurality of elevations, wherein thecontroller is configured to: process the image data identifying at leastone feature in a first frame and a second frame of the plurality ofimage frames; identify a movement of the feature from the first frame tothe second frame, wherein the movement is identified based on acomparison of the movement to the field of view of the imager; predict afuture elevation for the emission for an elevation adjustment at afuture time, wherein the future elevation is predicted based on aplurality of previously identified inter-frame movements and a delay ina response of the lighting system; and output a signal configured toadjust a current elevation of the output emission to the futureelevation in response to the movement.
 13. The apparatus according toclaim 12, wherein the delay is in response to the capture of the imagedata, the processing of the image data, or a response time of the atleast one headlamp controlling the elevation of the emission of light.14. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the at least oneheadlamp corresponds to a first headlamp and a second headlamp.
 15. Theapparatus according to claim 14, wherein the controller is furtherconfigured to: output a signal configured to adjust a first elevation ofthe first headlamp and a second elevation of the second headlamp basedon the movement.
 16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein thefirst elevation is different than the second elevation.
 17. Theapparatus according to claim 12, wherein the controller is furtherconfigured to: identify the movement as an upward elevational shift inan orientation of the vehicle.
 18. The apparatus according to claim 17,wherein the controller is configured to output a signal configured tooutput a signal configured to adjust a projected elevation of the atleast one headlamp in response to identifying the elevational shift. 19.The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the at least one headlampcomprises a plurality of light emitting sources arranged in a matrix.20. An apparatus for controlling a lighting system for a vehiclecomprising: an imager configured to capture image data in a plurality ofimage frames in a field of view proximate to the vehicle; and acontroller in communication with the imager and a plurality of headlampscomprising a first headlamp configured to emit a first emission and asecond headlamp configured to emit a second emission, wherein eachheadlamp is configured to emit light at a plurality of elevations, andwherein the controller is operable to: process the image data toidentify at least one feature in a first frame and a second frame of theplurality of image frames; identify a feature movement based on a pixelshift of the at least one feature from the first frame to the secondframe, wherein the controller is configured to identify vehicle movementas a rotational movement based on the pixel shift in the image data inthe field of view; and output a first signal configured to adjust afirst elevation of the first emission and output a second signalconfigured to adjust a second elevation of the second emissionindependently in response to rotational movement.